Mack B873sx restoration

[hicrop10]

I am going to restart the restoration of my b87.It has been held up the last years by a multiple things,caring for my mom,working full time,lost of inside storage and a few others.I still don’t have inside storage but I will be putting a roof over it (I hope).

   Now a little about the truck,it been in the family since new.It was delivered in May 29 1964.It has the big Cummins motor a whopping 335hp nothing compared to today’s motors.I have all of the original paperwork for the truck.It has 65,000 rears,20,000 front axle.Dad paid $27,300 for it,far cry from todays prices.The picture of it on the lowboy was taken at Gerhart’s.I want to think these trucks were sort of custom built,my thinking behind this is I haven’t seen another one just like it.Well wish me luck,I’ll try to keep you all up to date on the progress on the truck.I will start with getting it running in the next month or so.Truck is in Philadelphia so feel free to give me a call if your in the area.

[mowerman]

Good luck bud it took me years and years just to get a house and a garage put up to work on it now the first few things that are doing to it I’ve had to do outside because of a lot of sanding of fiberglass. I’d rather just do that outside, so it doesn’t fly everywhere. Sometimes the wheels of progress turn mighty slow.

[mowerman]

H67 matt and the Brockway show were all very inspiring… Bob

[1961H67]

That is awesome! I felt great talking to the original owners son of my LTH,,, Having a truck that your Dad bought new is priceless! There aren’t many of them around,, I’ve only seen about 5 . Thanks for sharing your story! 

[doubleclutchinweasel]

Every time I see a red B80-series, I remember the one I rode in with my Dad when I was a little guy.  It belong to Herman "Bull" West.  That sucker would beat your brains out!  Heavy, heavy built truck.  Funny, they didn't seem all that old then.  Of course, it WAS 50 years ago or so...

[tjc transport]

for me it takes me back to the first truck i was paid to drive, a B-815.

[doubleclutchinweasel]

I never got to drive Herman's truck.  Can't even remember if it was a B81 or a B83.  First one I ever drove was a B61 belonging to Phillips & Jordan.  My Dad had driven that particular truck from the time it was practically new.  That's the one I learned to drive on.  N/A Thermodyne (185HP?) and the 18-speed Quadruplex.

First one I was ever paid to drive was the 1967 R611ST.  250HP Thermodyne and the same 18-speed Quad.

Still, those B80's stick out in my mind.  All the ones around there had the "oil field" fenders.  Lots of them were triple-framed.  Huge spring stacks.  Some had the 22" wheels instead of the 20s.  Noticeably taller than the B61's.  Absolute beasts of trucks...with that same tiny little cab!

Funny thing was that most of those operators painted the trailers to match the tractors.  Herman's was red with a triple-axle Hyster lowboy painted to match.  The B61 I learned on was yellow and black, with a yellow tandem-axle Hyster trailer.  Almost like they had some pride in their rigs, ya' know?  Of course, the white R611 just had the standard yellow Hyster tri-axle behind it.  White tractor goes with anything, right?

I can't wait to see hicrop can do with this one.  I'll be riding down that memory lane every time he posts a picture on here.  So, thanks for taking us along for the ride!  Hurry up!  More pictures!😄

[hicrop10]

2 hours ago, doubleclutchinweasel said:

I never got to drive Herman's truck.  Can't even remember if it was a B81 or a B83.  First one I ever drove was a B61 belonging to Phillips & Jordan.  My Dad had driven that particular truck from the time it was practically new.  That's the one I learned to drive on.  N/A Thermodyne (185HP?) and the 18-speed Quadruplex.

First one I was ever paid to drive was the 1967 R611ST.  250HP Thermodyne and the same 18-speed Quad.

Still, those B80's stick out in my mind.  All the ones around there had the "oil field" fenders.  Lots of them were triple-framed.  Huge spring stacks.  Some had the 22" wheels instead of the 20s.  Noticeably taller than the B61's.  Absolute beasts of trucks...with that same tiny little cab!

Funny thing was that most of those operators painted the trailers to match the tractors.  Herman's was red with a triple-axle Hyster lowboy painted to match.  The B61 I learned on was yellow and black, with a yellow tandem-axle Hyster trailer.  Almost like they had some pride in their rigs, ya' know?  Of course, the white R611 just had the standard yellow Hyster tri-axle behind it.  White tractor goes with anything, right?

I can't wait to see hicrop can do with this one.  I'll be riding down that memory lane every time he posts a picture on here.  So, thanks for taking us along for the ride!  Hurry up!  More pictures!😄

Doubleclutchinweasel,you mentioned Phillips&Jordan were they a land clearing outfit?Reason I ask I think we used them on a job we did in Frackville Pa back in the early 90’s.

[doubleclutchinweasel]

Just now, hicrop10 said:

Doubleclutchinweasel,you mentioned Phillips&Jordan were they a land clearing outfit?Reason I ask I think we used them on a job we did in Frackville Pa back in the early 90’s.

Yes.  At one time, they were one of the biggest clearing contractors in the world.

My great-uncle, Ted Jordan, was "Big Ted" and his brother-in-law, Ted Phillips, was "Little Ted".  Locally, they were known as "Ted & Ted", or just P&J.

None of the Jordans are involved with P&J any more.  They all went on to retire or start their own businesses...to more or less success!  Avis Phillips (Little Ted's wife) is still chairman there.  Ted's son is CEO.  They kept the Phillips & Jordan name, though, because it is pretty well known.

https://pandj.com/our-history/leadership/

[mattb73lt]

Welcome back!! Glad to see you starting in on it again. Life does throw some hurdles at you and when it does, projects usually go by the wayside. I wish you all the best on your rekindled endeavor. You can get it done, even it it's just a piece at a time. The history and emotional attachment of your truck should help motivate you. It's going to be beautiful when you finish it!

[hicrop10]

Looking for a couple of springs for my truck.Part number is 58AX199, they go on the bottom of the lower radiator tank.

[hicrop10]

Well I’m back at it,haven’t made as much progress as I would have liked to in the last year and a half.Life tends to throw a curve ball at you every once in a while.Mom passed,trust me when I say that came out of the blue.
   Got the truck in a safe spot where I can work on it.I got the cab off and in my shed where I’m hand sanding it.All the rust you see is just surface rust.Anyone know of of a good primer I can put on after the hand sanding to prevent any more surface rust.

[hicrop10]

My goal is to hand sand the complete cab and get some primer on it to prevent and more flash rusting.Then when I’m ready to send it off to a body guy I may sandblast the whole thing for him so he has bare steel to start with,or what he wants.What’s everyone’s thoughts?

[Vladislav]

You don't need to remove all that surface rust if you're going to sandblast the whole cab before painting. Sure if you don't see a 10 years gap in time. Actually strange to see that much of it as long as you work in a shop not outside. Is the compartment dry enough? Or do you do wet sanding? And what is the reason at all you do that? 

To me it looks at least two ways may be chosen at this point. 1st you remove all the items off the cab, repair areas where actual rust through or dents take place, than sandblast the whole thing and bring its further faith into the hands of paint guy. 2nd is you sand off a certain area, for the best a portion of a cab with some borders, than mask the rest and apply primer, self etch or epoxy, depending on the religion you prefere to go along, and continue working on the next portion. This way no need in media blast is seen, or possibly locally only where deep rust was detected you can't sand off. Then paint guy will scotch-bright or sand your primer up and put his other layers over it.

[hicrop10]

 Vald,the reason for all the rust is that the cab was stored on the truck with a cover over it.Now the cab will be kept inside out of the weather.I’m laid off from work now and recovering from a heart attack so I do have the time to do what I’m doing.The truck is still stored outside with a tarp over it. I have been looking for a place to buy and build a garage to store it inside but haven’t had any luck.I’m not to fond of renting,cause you are always under the renter rules,he shows up one day and gives you a week to move out he’s sold the property,which happen to me.Just tired of moving it from one place to another place.I am looking at a house that has a 3 car garage with it, that will be coming on the market.My throughts are to rent the house out and use garage for myself.

[Mark T]

Sorry to hear about all the troubles you've been having.  That cab looks to be in decent shape. I'm not so sure sand blasting is the thing to do to it. Blasting ? yes, but I think a different media would be the way to go and avoid damamging it. Any way you went about that (soda blast walnut shells) Vlad's correct, no need to go through sanding it before blasting. If you're thinking something on it until blasting ?  I'd wipe it down good with acetone or something, blow it off good and get a few spray cans of XO Rust or something. Again, blasting would eat through that like nothing.  Sand ????  Sometimes isn't the hot ticket on sheet metal, tends to warp it from heat , it's more aggresive than 60 year old sheet metal cares to deal with.

[Nor'Easter]

Sandblasting causes panels to warp as the granule impact causes expansion of the metal at the surface.  It is not due to heat.  We strip sheet metal with 60-80g on a DA sander.  If there are difficult spots due to pitting, or you are dealing with sheet metal from the desert which creates very hard surface rust, we use fine crushed glass at a lower pressure and at a very low angle.  Take extra precaution on low crown panels such as door skins, hoods, and large flat areas like the top and back of cabs.

We use Southern Polyurethanes epoxy primer on everything.  It's made in the US and if you need technical help, you can text the owner Barry and he'll respond even on the weekends.  It does require that the metal temp be above 65.  I've no affiliation with them but it's all I've used in the last decade.

[hicrop10]

I have been researching my options,and from the feedback here.I think I’m gonna go the route of chemical stripping.Will first use a stripper in the areas that have paint,then use Eastwood Itch to remove the surface rust.In the area that I can’t get to dur to cracks and so forth I may use the blaster using walnut shells or something that is less damaging to the metal,but that won’t be till spring.Keep your options coming in.I want to do this right,the truck has been in the family since new.I would like to say it will be at Macungie this year but that not likely,it’s always nice to dream.Will keep the updates coming.

[1961H67]

Glad to see you making progress. I sandblasted the heavy/ thicker parts, bumper, grille guard, running boards , even the fenders, but I was afraid to do it on flat surface, so I’ve had pretty good luck with just plain paint stripper from the hardware store, my doors had about 4 coats of paint, I paid $ 50 for a gallon, and it took about 1/2 gallon for both. This was about 1/2 way through the process, about the 4th coat of stripper I had peeled off a big pile of old paint, then I pressure washed them . Not to bad of a job. 

[hicrop10]

That’s kinda the way I’m going the heavy items will be blasted.I am going to buy a new sand blast cabinet to do all the smaller parts.

[h67st]

I used my steam cleaner to strip some parts, works well when the water is that hot. I used Nason Ful-poxy primer and was very happy with it, but if you're going to blast later that would be overkill. I used it on the chassis, engine, etc. and it really sticks-hard to scratch or chip. You have to top coat within 24 hours but it sure makes a strong coating when you do that.

[1961H67]

This was the outcome after  steam cleaning , now I have a bunch of small holes to weld up where another set of mirrors were installed. The paint stripper worked pretty good.

[hicrop10]

1961h67,do you recall the name of the paint stripper you used?

[1961H67]

I bought a gallon, this is the brand. I have used aircraft stripper in the past, it also worked well, I don’t think any of them works as good as they used to ( probably took the “Good “ stuff out of it!) 

[mowerman]

As long as you got  it down that far you might as well bead blast , the whole thing yes, that’s definitely way to go, but do not use the sand like the other fellow said Save a lot of work then it’s ready for paint then of course you gotta make sure you blow all the shit out after they get done so it doesn’t surface when you start painting. Good luck. Great progress you too.dean….bob